Sensei 2 (PC) review

"How’s this for a defining moment? Shuichi Nakayama stands face to face with a crushed woman. She’s been horribly victimized throughout her life, a fact that he has parlayed into a variety of racy but lifeless sexual acts. To thaw her frozen exterior, he needs a powerful hook. And he finds it in her elementary-aged daughter, who has fallen into the sights of a pedophile. Shuichi can save her. If you force him to help out of whatever goodness is left in his heart, then his reward is the same..."

How’s this for a defining moment? Shuichi Nakayama stands face to face with a crushed woman. She’s been horribly victimized throughout her life, a fact that he has parlayed into a variety of racy but lifeless sexual acts. To thaw her frozen exterior, he needs a powerful hook. And he finds it in her elementary-aged daughter, who has fallen into the sights of a pedophile. Shuichi can save her. If you force him to help out of whatever goodness is left in his heart, then his reward is the same cold fish but no solace for his withered soul. This is the bad ending, and understandably so. However, if the hero’s ransom includes every bit of the mother’s dignity and spirit, extracted by forcing her to beg and submit, then his reward is a sycophant who eagerly embraces only his bestial desires. Somehow, this is better.

Sensei 2 is wholly composed of such ugliness, both in content and style. It’s a decision based adventure where choices lead the protagonist to different victims. When the options aren’t inconsequential, let evil be your guide to maximize the amount of exposed flesh. The main character, the aforementioned Shuichi, actually begins as a sympathetic , disaffected youth trying to exist after a sterile, lonely upbringing. He’s attempted to leave his unfortunate familial circumstances behind by moving away for school, but the solitude remains. He has no friends, and his homeroom teacher despises him, even beats him up. Somehow, that makes it okay for him to become a sexual predator.

His targets are those in authority, the faculty of his school, whose downfall would be most challenging and attractive. However, Sensei 2 employs character design that makes these women surprisingly uninviting. The strict gym coach continually sneers in contempt. The meek student teacher always stares at the ground, wringing her hands, sniveling like a disgusting worm. The standoffish chemistry instructor, who happens to be that mother, slouches backwards in a defensive stance, her cool features alternating between ambivalence and unmitigated hatred. And each one has the same tiny, upturned nose that makes her expression always seem condescending.

That’s okay, though. This title isn’t about sex; Shuichi explicitly states that himself. Its focus is control, humiliation, and pain. Beauty is optional. Anyway, all the ladies cut great figures with their clothes off, at least during those rare moments when they’re not doused in sweat, semen, or any other available fluid. Bondage and toys play a major role in the ultimate plan. Shuichi loves to make his victim hold in a vibrator during class. Or endure clamps placed on her nipples. Or tolerate a handful of thermometers shoved where they really don’t belong. In one particular encounter, he trusses up his subject so that she looks like a jumbled collection of body parts, then fits her with a leather-bound ring gag for unlimited access. Having trouble accurately visualizing such lewdness? Lucky you.

Obviously, Sensei 2 caters only to a specific audience. All the sex scenes – each woman has at least nine spanning her two endings (bad and worse) – involve sadistic or nonconsensual elements that permanently tie them to that narrow theme. Even the music is frightening; they’re deceptively calm yet disquieting compositions with titles like Insanity and Instinct and A Fragment of Hatred. So unless the previous paragraph caused blood to rush to your loins, move along. Nothing to see here.

In practice, Shinobi Rumble doesn't deliver superior single-player combat. The fighting mechanics are technically simple, the computer's strategies are equally unsophisticated, and the story mode is simple shorthand. If you're going at this solo, the game will occupy a few hours and then be forgotten forever.

All of these choices reinforce your self-image, plus they present more challenges than simply winning games and piling up stats. There are many ways in which the Wii version of Madden can't ever compete with its HD counterparts, but these changes to Franchise Mode define it as a desirable parallel.

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